BEEF is core to McDonald’s business. Around $15 billion worth of Big Macs alone are turned over each year. Still, the fast food king isn’t ruling out putting fake meat on its menu. If consumers demand it, we’ll sell it, McDonald’s beef strategic sourcing boss Andrew Brazier told a big Beef Australia audience this week. “Where McDonald’s has really succeeded is where there has been internal disruption - speed production line, drive through, cafe and most recently Uber Eats deliveries,” he said. “We do embrace change. “Having said that, we have five burger brands and each one sells over a billion dollars each year. So we are a beef burger business and we will never go away from that. Mr Brazier was part of a panel on markets and trade at the Central Queensland University symposium. He said McDonald’s sourced 85 per cent of its beef out of 10 markets. The US is its biggest sourcing market and Australia is second. “Not only do we buy a lot of beef in Australia that stays here but we send a lot of it through the Asia Pacific,” he said. “From a strategic point of view, Australia is critical to us in terms of ensuring supply into our restaurants, particularly from a food safety and food quality perspective - our top priorities. “We see Australia as continuing to grow our access into valuable markets.” The ‘customer-obsessed’ philosophy was driving decisions at McDonald’s, according to Mr Brazier. “Our consumers are now asking more questions, wanting to understand a lot more under the layers of those clean, green attributes Australia has for a long time stood on,” he said. Connecting the paddock to urban consumers had never been more important and while individuals would certainly contribute, having a united industry enabled a coherent and proactive message about the great benefits Australian producers had, he said. FarmOnline

“From a strategic point of view, Australia is critical to us in terms of ensuring supply into our restaurants, particularly from a food safety and food quality perspective - our top priorities.

“We see Australia as continuing to grow our access into valuable markets.”

The ‘customer-obsessed’ philosophy was driving decisions at McDonald’s, according to Mr Brazier.

“Our consumers are now asking more questions, wanting to understand a lot more under the layers of those clean, green attributes Australia has for a long time stood on,” he said.

Connecting the paddock to urban consumers had never been more important and while individuals would certainly contribute, having a united industry enabled a coherent and proactive message about the great benefits Australian producers had, he said.